620 million Chinese surf internet via phone

Beijing: About 620 million Chinese, nearly half of the country’s population, had used mobile phones to access internet as of the end of 2015, an official report showed.

The number of Chinese surfing the internet via phone increased by 63.03 million in 2015, accounting for 90.1 percent of the total 688 million internet users in the country, Xinhua cited the report released by China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) as saying on Friday.

Mobile phones have become a major driver of growth in China’s internet user population, the report noted, adding around 127 million Chinese access the internet only by cell phone.

Internet coverage expansion has helped improve public services, living standards, and e-commerce.

According to the report, the number of people who use mobile payment services, consult doctors online or receive education through the internet reached 358 million, 152 million and 110 million, respectively, in 2015.

Moreover, about 96.6 million Chinese, or one in 14, ordered a taxi online in 2015, with most using mobile phones to do so, the report showed.

China has 413 million online shoppers. Last year, more than 50 million people tried online shopping for the first time.